The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Rosa hybrida. The new cultivar will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘BAIrift’. ‘BAIrift’ is a shrub rose suitable for landscape plantings.
The new cultivar of shrub rose is a selection from a controlled breeding program conducted by the inventor in Yamhill, Oreg. with a focus to create cultivars of roses with greater winter hardiness and improvements in disease resistance combined with good flower quality.
The new variety of shrub rose, ‘BAIrift’, designated as seedling No 99A796 was selected among seedlings derived from a cross made in Yamhill, Oreg. in 1999 between the female parent, ‘MACrexy’ (U.S. Plant No. 6,713) and the male parent, ‘MEIpotal’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,841) as the male parent. ‘BAIrift’ was selected as unique and budded onto understock in August 2000 and reselected by the inventors for its distinct characteristics in 2005.
The new cultivar has been asexually propagated by rooting of softwood cuttings from a plant grown on its own roots in Yamhill, Oreg. Asexual propagation determined that the characteristics of this cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.